Ministers skipped pension dues | 日本のニュースを英語で読むならジャパンタイムズウィークリー


	UPDATE: Saturday, June 12, 2010 The Japan Times Weekly 2004年5月1日号（バックナンバー）

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Ministers skipped pension dues

Shigeru Ishiba

With a government campaign under way to persuade the public to pay into the compulsory pension system and Diet deliberations of contentious government-sponsored pension reform continuing, three Cabinet ministers admitted April 23 to skipping their monthly payments -- in one case for two decades.

Shoichi Nakagawa

Trade Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, Defense Agency Director General Shigeru Ishiba and Home Affairs Minister Taro Aso said the oversight had merely been in error.

"It was a complete mistake and I apologize," Nakagawa, 50, said at a news conference. He said he had not paid from 1983 to 2003.

Taro Aso

Aso, 63, said he forgot to pay for three years and 10 months while Ishiba, 47, said he made no contributions for a year and five months.

Their admissions threaten to further damage the credibility of the system by undermining the government's effort to convince people, especially the younger generation, to pay into it.

Up to 40 percent of self-employed workers who are obliged by law to pay the premium have not done so, endangering the future of the scheme, which covers residents nationwide.

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